MEMORY AND SPIRITUALITY IN MAURO PIVA, AT ESPACIO MÍNIMO
By Álvaro de Benito
Espacio Mínimo presents Alamandas, the second solo show by Mauro Piva (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1977) at the Madrid gallery. The proposal navigates through a universe with a strong natural presence, where connections between memory and spirituality—almost shamanic—emerge. From his own life experience, the Brazilian artist draws an environment built around remembrance, around the force and impact of the present upon the space one longs to return to, but which, in a certain sense, drifts away from the real.
That ever-evolving memory materializes in the representation of nature, linking his previous work on the possibilities of the value of the image in the world of contemporary art, while on this occasion delving more deeply into the concepts of collection and memory.
The exhibition unfolds two large-scale, homonymous installations in which flowers, handcrafted from cold porcelain and wood and painted in acrylic, “grow” directly on the gallery walls. This organic creation evokes the artist’s experiences, while at the same time giving physicality to those memories of his life.
Complementing the arrangement of the flowers, a series of watercolors on paper depict other botanical elements through which Piva connects with the ritual, the atavistic. Inspired by ritual infusions used for diverse purposes, the works suggest a link between the physical-real and the spiritual-magical.
Mauro Piva. Alamandas can be seen until November 8 at Espacio Mínimo, Doctor Fourquet 17, Madrid (Spain).
May interest you
THE SOCIOPOLITICS OF THE SYMBOL IN EDUARDO SARABIA, AT VETA
LATIN AMERICAN ARTISTS IN SPAIN: NOTES FROM A RESEARCH PROJECT
By Mónica Sotos
What are the successive diasporas of Latin American artists to Spain from the final years before the beginning of the 21st century to the present about? Article 1 of a 3-part series.
LATIN AMERICA EMPHASIZES ITS CRITICAL PRESENCE AT THE REINA SOFÍA
By Álvaro de Benito
The presentation of the current season at Madrid’s Reina Sofía Museum has underscored the strategic importance of Latin America and its artistic practices in the vision of Spain’s largest public contemporary art institution. This is not something new, since its commitment as a public museum has incorporated the Ibero-American narrative as an essential part of its historical account from the beginning. However, what does stand out is the accentuation of its critical essence in a program —the first fully developed under the direction of Manuel Segade, with the exception of a single exhibition— which introduces new elements.
THE SUBTLETY OF SANDRA CINTO, AT ES BALUARD
By Álvaro de Benito
Es Baluard in Palma de Mallorca presents Preludio para el sol y las estrellas (Prelude for the Sun and the Stars), a project by Sandra Cinto (Santo André, Brazil, 1968) that transforms the museum space into a realm suspended between perception, time, and matter. The result envelops visitors in an expanded landscape that invites reflection through stillness and contemplation, where the sensory and the act of pausing become central to the experience.
